Which were based on stories he had never even
seen and quickly despised.

Postcard of Charles Murray. eb

Reviews: The one review I have seen, in
Variety, is perhaps the most positive of any of Wright's movies.
After noting that the title suggests just another mediocre western, the
critic says, ". . .the plot has dignity, drama, romantic interest
and a definite appeal. When melodrama enters the picture it is
true melodrama and grips because it carries the suggestion of reality.

The critic goes into unusual detail describing the
plot: "The story opens in the desert showing two old
prospectors. Out of water, they come upon a cabin and seek to
replenish their supply. At the cabin, and in the custody of an old
woman, they discover a white child. Previously we have seen
a villainous character, Sonora Jack, leave after admonishing the woman
to take good care of the youngster as some day she would bring much
gold. The prospectors take this child by force because it is white
and proceed to raise it as their own. Due to the child they decide
to quit their meanderings and settle down. The girl grows to
womanhood. She is taught the rudiments of an education by a young
physician neighbor, out there because of his health and known as 'Saint
Jimmy.'

"About this time is made known that a legend
persists in the Arizona country of the existence of a mine with an iron
door which had been the property of padres. Into this situation
comes the hero, who says he is a prospector. He meets the
girl. Later it is discovered this youth is a fugitive
convict. Meanwhile the old prospectors inject much comedy through
their desire but lack of courage to tell the girl her real origin. A renegade, who would marry her, when spurned finally tells her and the
girl feels her humiliation so keenly she attempts to go away. She
is caught in the path of a terrific storm, and saved from death by an
educated Indian who has left the white man's school and gone back to the
land of his people. This Indian cherishes a latent hatred of
whites. He brings the girl back. Later he learns the
identity of the convict-prospector and threatens to turn him over to the
sheriff unless the white man comes with him. He compels the white
man to share his cabin in the hills and there search for gold, and finds
satisfaction in his suffering. Eventually Sonora Jack and his gang
get information that leads them to believe the Indian knows the secret
of the lost mine. They capture him and try to force him to
divulge, resorting to torture.

"The Indian knows the location, as he has led
his captive blindfolded into the mine, laughed at him and then led him
back again. The young convict-prospector is instrumental in saving
the Indian, much to the latter's surprise. In gratitude the Indian
takes the white man back to the mine and permits him to gather all the
gold he can carry away. In the meantime, Sonora Jack and his gang
learn of the white girl's identity and come to recapture her. In
the fight that ensues one of her prospector protectors is killed and the
other badly wounded. The outlaws are traced by the Indian and the
young convict-prospector. The Indian stages a sensational knife
fight with Sonora Jack and slays him, the youth eventually is cleared of
the crime for which he was sent to prison, and the lovers are brought
together.

"This may sound melodramatic, but in the
telling there is much skill of direction and artistry in the
unfolding."

Another review of this movie appeared in Film
Daily, December 21, 1924, but I have not yet obtained a copy.

Release: Principal Pictures, Sol
Lesser presents

Production: Sol Lesser

Director: Sam Wood

Writing/Screenplay: From Harold Bell
Wright's novel by same name.

Characters

Actors

Marta
Hillgrove

Dorothy
McKale

Tad
Grove

Burt
Woodruff

Dod
Hill [?]

Charles
Murray

Natachee

Bob
Fraser

Hugh
Edwards

Pat
O'Malley

"The
Lizard"

Raymond
Hatton

"St.
Jimmy"

Creighton
Hale

Sonora
Jack

Mitchell
Lewis

St.
Jimmy's mother

Mary
Carr

Chico

William
Collier, Jr.

The
Sheriff

Clarence
Burton

Availability: This movie was shown at the restored Rialto
theater in Tucson, Arizona on October 8 and 10, 2010. The
announcement for this rare screening included this note: "Only ten
percent of silent films have survived and The Mine with the Iron
Door was thought to have been one of these lost cinema treasures.
The Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation successfully tracked
down two surviving prints in Moscow, Russia, and Paris, France. The
copy of the film to be presented has been digitally restored and
loaned by the "CNC - Archives françaises du film."

Before the copy was discovered in France, the Oracle [Arizona]
Historical Society provided this information: "There is one existing
copy of this film in the Russian Film Archives in Moscow. The film
was in the soviet distribution in the 1920s and a print of it has
been preserved. The print is of 7 reels, 1685 meters long, but it
lacks initial titles and the word "end". A print of the picture on
35 mm film can be made for the price of $1,685 plus freight cost for
shipping from Moscow."